Celebration, agony for two Calaveras County products

Jake Shields pulled off an upset and T.J. Dillashaw came close to doing the same thing.

The Record

Jake Shields pulled off an upset and T.J. Dillashaw came close to doing the same thing.

On Wednesday in Barueri, Brazil, the mixed martial arts fighters from the Mother Lode each had close matches at UFC Fight Night with different results. Shields upset highly-ranked welterweight and Brazil native Demian Maia in the main event. Dillashaw, a bantamweight, lost a close split decision to another Brazilian, Raphael Assunção.

Shields, 34, grew up in Mountain Ranch and graduated from Calaveras High. He lost a decision to welterweight Georges St-Pierre in 2011, but was not ranked in the top 10 before his latest outing.

He handled the fifth-ranked Maia and earned a split decision (48-47, 47-48, 48-47) in the five-round fight.

"I think this puts me back high (in the rankings)," Shields told UFC.com after the bout. "I want another shot at (Georges St-Pierre). ... I'll fight any of the top contenders."

The fight turned into a strategic wrestling match, and Shields (29-6-1) controlled much of the action against Maia (18-5-0).

"That's one of the toughest fights I've ever been in," Shields said. "I felt like I was landing good kicks and made good use of my jiu-jitsu. But Demian was one of the toughest I've faced."

The ninth-ranked Dillashaw (8-2), who attended Bret Harte in Angels Camp, was edged by Assuncao, 28-29, 29-28, 29-28, in an entertaining bout that earned fight of the night honors and an extra $50,000 for each combatant. Assuncao, who is ranked fifth, improved to 21-4.

UFC president Dana White announced on Thursday that welterweight Rousimar Palhares has been banned for life. Palhares needed just 31 seconds Wednesday to finish Mike Pierce by heel-hook submission, but held the hold after Pierce tapped out and the referee intervened. Palhares was suspended for 90 days in 2010 for a similar incident.